Statics Mechanics

Hookes law 1.3.01-01

What you can learn about

 Hooke's law
 Spring constant
 Limit of elasticity
 Elastic hysteresis
 Elastic after-effect

Principle:
The validity of Hooke's law is deter-
mined for two helical springs with
different spring constants. The elon-
gation of the helical spring, which
depends on the deforming force, is
studied by means of the weights of
masses. For comparison, a rubber
band, for which no proportionality
exists between the exerted force and
the resulting elongation, is submit-
ted to the same forces.

Tasks:
1. Determining the spring constants
of helical springs
2. Study of the elongation of a rub-
ber band

What you need: Theory (Hooks Law)

Fw
N
Tripod base -PASS- 02002.55 1 A Experiment
2,0 X
Barrel base -PASS- 02006.55 1 X
X
Support rod -PASS-, square, l = 1000 mm 02028.55 1
X
Right angle clamp -PASS- 02040.55 1 X
1,5 X
Cursors, 1 pair 02201.00 1
X
Weight holder f. slotted weights 02204.00 1 X
X
Slotted weight, 10 g, black 02205.01 2 X
10 12 14 16 18
Slotted weight, 10 g, silver bronze 02205.02 2 1,0 X
X
Slotted weight, 50 g, black 02206.01 1 X
Slotted weight, 50 g, silver bronze 02206.02 2 X
X
Helical spring, 3 N/m 02220.00 1 0,5 X
Helical spring, 20 N/m 02222.00 1 X
X
Silk thread, 200 m 02412.00 1 X
X
Meter scale, demo, l = 1000 mm 03001.00 1 B
0
Holding pin 03949.00 1 0 2 4 6 8 l
cm
Square section rubber strip, l = 10 m 03989.00 1
Acting weight Fw as a function of the extension l for a rubber band
Complete Equipment Set, Manual on CD-ROM included (elastic hysteresis).
Hookes law P2130101

PHYWE Systeme GmbH & Co. KG D - 37070 Gttingen Laboratory Experiments Physics 17
 LEP
Hookes law 1.3.01
-01

Related topics weight is decreased in 10 g steps by removing slotted

Hooke's law, spring constant, limit of elasticity, elastic hys- weights. The equilibrium position x0 of the rubber band with-
teresis, elastic after-effect out slotted weights is calculated approximately through appli-
cation of Hooke's law to equilibrium positions x1(10 g) and
x1(20 g):
Principle
The validity of Hooke's law is determined for two helical x0 = x1(10 g) - (x1(20 g) - x1(10 g)).
springs with different spring constants. The elongation of the
helical spring, which depends on the deforming force, is stud- Weight FW, which causes elongation, is plotted as a function
ied by means of the weights of masses. For comparison, a of elongation %l = Vx1 - x0V .
rubber band, for which no proportionality exists between the
exerted force and the resulting elongation, is submitted to the
same forces.
Fig. 1: Experimental set-up: Hookes law.
Equipment
Tripod base -PASS- 02002.55 1
Barrel base -PASS- 02006.55 1
Support rod -PASS-, square, l = 1000 mm 02028.55 1
Right angle clamp -PASS- 02040.55 1
Cursors, 1 pair 02201.00 1
Weight holder f. slotted weights 02204.00 1
Slotted weight, 10 g, black 02205.01 2
Slotted weight, 10 g, silver bronze 02205.02 2
Slotted weight, 50 g, black 02206.01 1
Slotted weight, 50 g, silver bronze 02206.02 2
Helical spring, 3 N/m 02220.00 1
Helical spring, 20 N/m 02222.00 1
Silk thread, 200 m 02412.00 1
Meter scale, demo, l = 1000 mm 03001.00 1
Holding pin 03949.00 1
Square section rubber strip, l = 10 m 03989.00 1

Tasks
Determining the spring constants of helical springs
Study of the elongation of a rubber band

Set-up and procedure

The experimental set-up to measure the spring constants is
shown in Fig.1. To start with, the helical spring is submitted to
no stress; the sliding pointer is set to the lower end of the
spring and its corresponding position x0 on the measuring
scale is recorded. The load on the helical spring is then
increased in steps of 10 g, using the weight holder and the
slotted weights, until a maximum load of 200 g is reached.
Noting the equilibrium (stabilised) position of the lower end of
the helical spring x1, the corresponding increase %l = Vx1 - x0V
of the spring is assessed. Weight FW, which causes elonga-
tion, is plotted as a function of elongation %l. The elasticity of
the helical spring is controlled by repeating the determination
of %l for some weights and by comparing the results to those
obtained during the first measurement. This procedure is
repeated for both helical springs (D = 3 N/m and 20 N/m).
To determine the characteristic curve of the rubber band, a
piece of band of about 50 cm length is cut off. Both ends of
the rubber band are tied to small loops with silk thread. One
loop is slipped onto the holding bolt (cf. Fig. 2) and the weight
holder is suspended from the other loop. In the same way as
for the helical springs, forces (weights) are increased in steps
of 10 g up to a maximum of 200 g. The momentary elongation
of the rubber band must be maintained by hand during the
exchange of weights, because the elongation depends on the
previous history of the material (cf. theory). Subsequently,

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 LEP
1.3.01 Hookes law
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Fig. 2: Fixing the rubber band to the holding bolt.
Proportionality between the restoring forces, as long as they
are small, and the elongation of the solid body are ascertained
not only for the helical spring, but also for all other materials
which are in a state of stable equilibrium: the potential energy
of forces between molecules is approximately parabolic
around a stable point of equilibrium. Restoring forces obtained
by differentiating the potential are thus proportional to the
deviation from the rest position.
Taking for example a rod or wire of a given material of length
l and cross-section A, to which a traction force F is applied,
Hooke's law is expressed through:

%l F
 (6)
l A
Theory and evaluation
or
When forces act on a solid body, the resulting deformation
e = as
(translation and rotation movements are suppressed in the fol-
lowing) depends to a large extent on the material as well as on
where e = %l/l is the relative elongation of the rod, the propor-
the size and on the direction along which the exterior forces
tionality factor a is the coefficient of elasticity of the rod mate-
act. When the solid body regains its original shape after the
rial and s = F/A is the tension of the rod.
exterior force stops acting, that is, the interior restoring forces
of the material can bring the solid body back to its original
Proportionality only holds up to a characteristic limit stress. A
equilibrium position, the material is called elastic.
schematic stress-elongation diagram for a metal wire is shown
A helical spring is a very simple example of an elastic body (cf.
in Fig. 6. The limit of proportionality (sP) generally lies below
Fig.3). In addition, if deviations %l from the equilibrium position
the elastic limit (sE), above which the form of the solid body
l0 of the helical spring are not very large, the restoring force FR
changes permanently, due to interior molecular re-arrange-
of the spring is found to be proportional to its elongation (or to
ments. In this range of stresses, the material is said to be plas-
its compression) %l:
S S tic. If the deforming forces exceed the limit of solidity (sB), the
FR   D l (1) solid material begins to flow and the body breaks.
An example of a material which does not follow Hooke's law,
This is Hookes law or the linear law of forces, where the pro- even when submitted to small forces, is a rubber band. Fig. 7
portionality constant D, which is a general magnitude of refer- shows the characteristic curve of a rubber band, with contin-
ence, is called the spring constant in the case of a helical uously increasing stress between point O and point A and with
spring. If an exterior force acts on the spring, such as the gradual relief between point A and point B. On the one hand,
weight FW = m g of a mass m (g = 9.81 m/s2: acceleration of the relation between acting weight Fw and resulting elongation
terrestrial gravity) in this experiment, a new stable equilibrium
is reached for the length of the spring l1, for which the weight
mass m is equal to the restoring force of the spring: Fig. 3: Measurement of the elongation of the helical spring.

FR = D %l = mg = FW (2)

The elongation of the helical spring is therefore proportional to

the forces FW exerted by the weights:

1
l  F (3)
D W

as is also shown by the characteristic curves of the two heli-

cal springs (Figs. 4 and 5). The slope of the characteristic
curves is the respective spring constant D of the helical
springs. Measurement values from Fig. 4 yield a spring con-
stant of:
D = 3.03 N/m,

measurement values from Fig.5 yield a spring constant of:

D = 19.2 N/m.

Thus, forces required to cause a given elongation of the spring

increase proportionally with the spring constant. Using equa-
tion (3), the new equilibrium length l1 is found to be:

mg
l1  l0  (4)
D

2 21301-01 PHYWE series of publications Laboratory Experiments Physics PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH & Co. KG D-37070 Gttingen

Hookes law
Fig. 4: Weight Fw of a mass m which acts on the helical spring,
plotted as a function of elongation %l for a helical
spring with constant D = 3 N/m.
%l is no longer linear: elongation is larger than expected
according to Hooke's law, considering the measurement val-
ues for small stresses (dotted line).
On the other hand, the degree of elongation depends on the
previous history of the rubber band. In the characteristic curve
of the rubber band, part OA (gradual increase of stress) does
not coincide with part AB (gradual relief of stress), which is
contrary to what is observed for the helical spring, as long as
it remains within the limit of elasticity. This phenomenon is
called elastic hysteresis. If the same rubber band is stressed
again, elongation %l will now be significantly larger than had
been the case for the new rubber band.
Fig. 5: Weight Fw of a mass m which acts on the helical
spring, plotted as a function of elongation %l for a heli-
cal spring with constant D = 20 N/m.
PHYWE series of publications Laboratory Experiments Physics PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH & Co. KG D-37070 Gttingen
LEP
1.3.01
-01
Fig. 6: Stress-elongation diagram (schematic).
The hysteresis of the characteristic curve has two causes: on
one hand, only part of the deformation reverts back to the
original form momentarily, whereas the rest of the deformation
reverts back over a period of several hours. This reversible
process is called elastic after-effect, the material reacts vis-
coelastically. On the other hand, once the elastic limit is
exceeded, interior re-arrangements take place within the
material, which results in permanent changes of shape. This
process is irreversible, because work is converted to heat. In
this experiment, the effect of the elastic after-effect domi-
nates.
Fig. 7: Acting weight Fw as a function of the extension %l for
a rubber band (elastic hysteresis).
Theory (Hooks Law)
Experiment
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1.3.01 Hookes law
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